Visiting Dave

Sadly, we have only made it up to visit Dave once this summer, although he has been home every other time he has a day off.  We headed up on a Thursday afternoon, and stayed at a friend's family cabin that night and the next.  On Friday, we met up with Dave at one of the parks he works at, Hill Annex Mine State Park.  It has a small office/museum/gift shop that we checked out, then we took the first tour to the fossil hunting area.  A bus takes you out to a site and you get some time to search for fossils.  The girls had fun digging through the red rock/dirt and finding some snail shells and other treasures.  After the fossil hunt, we had time for a quick picnic lunch before our mine tour.  For the mine tour, you take a bus and see the different machines/buildings and get out a few times for pictures.  Norah took a snooze on the way back on the bus.

On Saturday, we packed up and went first to Schoolcraft State Park and found a campsite and set up our tent.  We then drove up to Dave's main park, Scenic State Park, and saw the building Dave lives in, met his boss and another coworker in the main office, and took a hike on one of the main trails there.  After the hike, we went for a swim at the beach area.

After swimming, we got changed and drove back to Schoolcraft for the night.  We enjoyed some pie iron pizzas for supper, then hiked along the Mississippi River.  We came back to our campfire for s'mores, then just after we put the girls to bed in the tent, it started to rain and storm (we had just taken the rain fly off of the tent because we thought it was going to be a nice night!).  That ended our campfire time...Dave and I were looking forward to just relaxing by the fire, but oh well...  It rained throughout the night, but was a nice morning when we woke up.  We packed up and headed to town for lunch at a pizza place Dave likes.  Hopefully we can make it up to visit Dave again either Labor Day weekend or in September sometime!

Horse camp

During the second week of July, Abby went to horse camp for three days.  It caught her eye in the community education brochure, and we thought it might be something that would help boost her courage and confidence a bit.  She had a blast, and loved all of the activities they had planned (learning how to care for a horse, crafts, snack, games, learning to ride).  On the last day, parents and other guests were invited to come watch the kids demonstrate their riding.  My parents and sister joined Norah and me and we all enjoyed seeing Abby up on her horse, "Bug".

Other June fun

Norah's name was on the sign at Treats of Lonsdale--she was so excited!

She picked a twist cone!

Norah's new favorite way to swing at the park

We are eating outside for many of our meals

Enjoying the empty cul-de-sac until they start digging and building a new house right next door to us :(

Lots of reading--I love that Abby can read to Norah now!  This was a rare getting along moment yesterday in the midst of lots of arguing...

Going for lots of walks to the park!

Spent the morning at Sea Life with our friends Kristina, Rhua, and baby Jacob!

VBS

After getting back at 10:30 last Sunday night, we had to be up bright and early for Vacation Bible School.  Abby was excited to go back after having so much fun last year.  This year, I was asked to help out in the nursery.  Norah came with me Tuesday-Friday.  Our group size varied from 6-9 kids, and the week went pretty smoothly--one little guy had a really tough time separating from his mom, but other than that, the kids were fine.  We pulled out the homemade playdough, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and music and the kids had fun with the toys in the nursery, going for walks, and playing on the playground.  Abby and Norah both loved the music--we listened to it on the way to and from VBS each day, so they knew the songs very well by the end of the week!  The program was cute, and we enjoyed the picnic beforehand with our friends, the Clarks, and my parents.

Arboretum field trip

Dave was able to go on a field trip with Abby's class this May to the arboretum in Chanhassen.  It was a chilly, rainy day, but they still came back with great pictures and had a lot of fun.  They had so many chaperons, he only had 2 kids in his group!

End of Kindergarten

We had a very busy end to the school year...Dave started a job up at Scenic State Park, 4 1/2 hours away, the day after Memorial Day.  He'll be there until about December 2nd, so hopefully any big snow will hold off until after then!  Abby had a couple of special events at the end of the year.  The first was a class picnic outside of her classroom.  I was lucky enough to be able to get coverage for my classroom and make it down for that.  We had fun eating outside and then the kids had time to share their memory books with their families.  Abby has had a great year, and has really come a long way with her reading, math, writing, and socially as well.  She has LOVED having Ms. Olson as a teacher, and will really miss her!  We can only hope that her future teachers are as sweet, caring, and organized.

Abby lost her first tooth the morning of the picnic as we were getting in the car to leave for school!

The last Monday of school, Abby's music class had an "informance".  Dave was home on a day off so could attend.  He had a lot of fun seeing what Abby has been learning.

This has been a fast year!  With the extra cold days off from school this year, Abby had a half day on Friday which wasn't planned into the calendar.  Hard to believe she is now a 1st grader!

Kendra and Mark's wedding

My cousin Kendra's wedding was timed perfectly--the Saturday night on our way to Estes Park.  We had a lot of fun at the wedding and reception, but the girls were bummed that we had to leave so early from the reception to drive to our hotel and shave a little time off of Sunday's drive.  Norah kept running back onto the dance floor as we were trying to get organized to leave.  It was a beautiful wedding and reception!  (I just realized that I have NO pictures with Kendra or Mark in them--oops!)